Yard work and sunburns...April 24th, 2011

The weather had been sunny and warm which leads to lots of outside time.  I was clearly wearing a sports bra under a strappy tank top for my all day marathon event of yard work and the aftermath was a very goofy shaped sunburn!!!  This sunburn took almost 2 weeks to fully snake up and peel off--so gross!!!  Part of the day involved pulling crabgrass for hours which gave me a nasty water blister on my index finger that I had to pop in order to get the water out!  Baylie on the other hand seemed quite satisfied with me being out in the back yard and able to play all day!!!  Sure wish I could teach the girls to eat the weeds then I wouldn't have as many to pull up!  :)

Classroom Upgrades...Spring Break...April 2011

Highland High School went through modernization a few years ago and most teachers were given brand new blue desk chairs...I actually opted out of the order because they really weren't very comfortable and my old hand-me-down chair was actually quite comfy--just a bit of an eye sore!!!  To be honest, I forget exactly when I decided to reupholster my chair but I'm pretty sure it was over my Easter break sometime after I'd run across the most PERFECT (albeit gaudy) plaid material!!! Highland's mascot is the

Scotsman and he dresses in a Royal Blue and Kelly Green plaid kilt and this material was IT...and at a low low clearance price of 70% off (which brought it down to less than $2.00 a yard) a downright steal!!!  For my

first reupholstered desk chair I gotta say it came out looking pretty good!  Thanks to mom giving me the idea to use the old material as the pattern because I was trying to decide how to measure everything out and was a bit

scared I'd get it all ripped apart and never be able to get it put back together again!  Admittedly there were a couple of humpty-dumpty touch and go  

moments where I had one stripped screw and a couple extra parts with no place for them to go, but with a bit of frustration and some creative thinking everything seemed to come together in the end!  Once I got it back to school a bunch of people wanted one just like it!  :) 

Wayne's Job Site...Cap Pour

Today’s pour!... My alarm went off at 1:20 AM.  Ouch.  We started pouring at 4 AM and finished at around 8:30.  It was just shy of 550 cubic yards. (3ft x 3ft x 3ft per cubic yard).  We had two 5” pumps running non-stop with two trucks dumping into each at a time.  By comparison --- Moe you had one 2” pump at your house with one truck dumping.  We had 32 guys involved between pouring, vibrating, managing cord, and directing trucks.  That doesn’t count office and superintendents. (40+)

Glad its done and nothing collapsed.

Crashing after.

Wayne Stonecipher
Project Engineer

cell: (510)502-1510
fax:(510)337-3808 

New Plaster in Mom's Pool!

There has been a few reoccurring rust stains that keep appearing in the bottom of the pool and it was getting so rough especially on the edges of the steps that the only solution was to re-plaster.  Most of the work was done from February 7-10 but due to rainy weather some of it had to be postponed and it was finally refilled on the 25th.  They were also able to fix/fill a couple of spots where the cement had lifted away from the tiles (thanks rogue tree roots) with a special grout--now you can hardly see the problem spots! Anyway, after the pool was drained I had gone over to see the progress...the sandblasting part had already been done. I was a bit afraid of what the dogs would do because they normally sprint to the back yard and immediately jump in the pool...I'm not sure they'd even notice the water wasn't there, so this day I kept them on leashes just in case! Once I led them down the steps I let them play around in the empty pool--I think they were rather confused about the whole thing! The worst part was that all this work kept the girls from being able to swim until spring break (April 2011) because after the new plaster was done it had to be submersed in the water to cure for over a month and I didn't dare risk claw marks in it! This made going to "Gramma's" house a challenge because they would stand at the door begging, barking and whimpering to go out to swim and we couldn't let them! O-well, they've been spoiled (admittedly) and they lived through it obviously! The pool looks brand new again and the steps are no longer pumice stones for feet and swimsuits! :)

My 32nd Birthday!!!

This year my birthday (February 6th) ironically fell on Super Bowl Sunday (ironic because it is my FAVORITE day--Insert LOTS of sarcasm here!)  :)  So anyway, Kim Smith took me out for birthday dinner and drinks at BJ's Brewery (thinking because it was a sports bar it might actually be full of guys watching the game--sadly it was rather disappointing for that)!  We had a fun night though...Angela Westbay was able to join us for a while as well as Sarah Porter...later Kim's sister Courtney and her husband Corey came by for a drink too!  We laughed and just enjoyed good company for a few hours--it was all I wanted--not too much fuss to honor another year of age--Blah!  The next day I was invited over to Sherry and Matt's house so that they and Carter could give me my birthday presents!  Carter helped unwrap everything--he's hilarious!!! At one point he threw a piece of wrapping at me so I of-course, threw it back at him and pegged him right in the forehead!  He laughed, grabbed his forehead and then pointed at me saying "MoeMoe" (announcing blame)!  The paper fight lasted a few throws and then it was back to the gifts! Thanks guys!   :-)

Mom & Wayne's Ski Trip to Kirkwood...January 26th-29th!

Wayne's company, Power Engineering has a cabin in Kirkwood up near Tahoe.  The owners allow their employees to sign up for and use for free during the winter months!  Wayne reserved 4 days from Wednesday January 26th through Saturday January 29th 2011.  Wayne, Amy and Kailey went for all the days and Mom joined them for a couple too!!!  They had a good time and it looked like they had really great weather the entire time!!! 

Carters 2nd Birthday Gift--The Rakkiddo Shoe Wheel...

So...Carter is really into his shoes!  He seemed to go through a phase where not only did he want to wear shoes at ALL times, he wanted everyone to wear shoes at all times!  It was all fun and games until it was bath or bed time and he STILL didn't want to remove his shoes!  Anyway...Sherry has a slight shoe fetish as well and tends to cater to Carter's obsession--he seriously has SOOOO many pairs of shoes!  So for his birthday part of his gift from me included this super cool shoe carousel!!!  It can hold nearly 20 pairs of shoes and it spins so even Carter can pick out his own pair!  Of course, at the party it wasn't much of a hit because it came in a flat box (but that night after some assembly by Matt) it was MUCH cooler!!!  Carter learned to put his shoes in it and spin it!  :) 

Carter's 2nd Birthday Party!!!

Carter's 2nd birthday party was held at a little place called My Gym on Sunday January 23rd, 2011 at 4:30pm.  My Gym had all kinds of things for the little ones to play on...from a mini trampoline, ball pit, a zip line and all kinds of different swings hanging from the ceiling!  The kids were allowed supervised free play for 5-10 minutes then they were all called in to the middle circle where the two ladies would tell fun puppet stories or lead the kids in songs (they were REALLY good at keeping the kids attention!).  Then the kids were released back to free play again--this process continued for about an hour and it seems none of the kids got bored!  After the play it was time for pizza, cake, and presents.  All in all it seemed like all the little ones had a good time!